Start with the Front Door

• Shade- tolerant annuals
  
  You might believe landscaping and your front door have nothing in common, but think again. Everything you do to your front yard points to the entry point of the home. If your front door has chipped paint, taped-over windows or tarnished brass knobs and kick panels, consider a clean up. Painting the front door requires minimal work for a dramatic change to the front of your home.
  
  

Front Porch, Stoop and Steps

• Let's move to the front porch. This greeting space creates a wealth of opportunity to bring landscaping features right to the front door. Choose larger planters for each side of the door, changing the flowers with the seasons. Ornamental evergreens or small shrubs provide the perfect frame for the newly painted from door. Colorful annuals look beautiful when planted in door-framing containers.
  If you're lucky enough to have a veranda, consider placing flower filled pots at each pillar. Topiaries add height to any seating arrangement as well as interest to your plant collection. Seating arrangements invite potted plants on low tables. You don't always have to choose brightly colored annuals. Try using shade-tolerant annuals such as coleus or caladium to spice up your front porch. Wide front steps beg for a series of pots placed on each step. Trailing annuals or ivy can be trained to flow right down the steps for a graceful décor to your entryway.
  
  

Walkway and Front Yard

• Landscaping principles require designers to choose a focal point for your yard. Consider your front door as the focal point for this project. You can either work with the natural symmetry of your front entry or choose an asymmetrical landscape design. Different balance choices still have one concept in common. Your design should lead the viewer's eye to your front door.
  Your walkway provides a natural avenue to the front door, so complementing this feature improves the entire landscape. Instead of simply creating a garden lining the walkway, consider creating irregularly shaped gardens on each side of the walk that extend slightly down the sidewalk. Choose plantings based on height, with the tallest in the back of the garden, gradually lessening the plant height when moving closer to the walkway. This planting design draws the eye to the front entryway of the home.
  Repeat colors in plants and shrubs for balance and symmetry, even in oddly shaped gardens. Incorporate large boulders or rocks into your landscape to soften the look of many plants. Consider different textures of leaves to create even more interest in entryway garden. Don't add a wild array of flowers in this area, since that will draw the viewer's eye to the flowers instead of the front door.